AMRITSAR: Diabetes is the leading cause of death due to heart attack and stroke, and the main cause of blindness and kidney failure in developed countries.

Making these observations, Prof. J.S Bajaj Emritus Professor and Chairman, Academic Council, National Academy of Medical Sciences said that recent figures from the World Health Organization indicate that 3.2 million deaths worldwide are attributable to diabetes every year, i.e. 6 deaths every minute. He said people with diabetes are 15 to 40 times more likely to require a lower-limb amputation compared with the general population.
     
Professor Bajaj was speaking on Management of Diabetes Mellitus: Principles and Practice at the first session on “Enhancing Quality of Patient Care in Type 2 Diabetes” at 47th Annual Conference of National Acedemy of Medical Sciences here at the Guru Nanak Dev Univeristy Campus.

Prof. Bajaj said type 2 diabetes mellitus is a major cause of morbidity and mortality all over the world. He said according to International Diabetes Federation (IDF), there are 240 million people with diabetes worldwide. This figure is projected to rise to 380 million by 2025, largely due population growth, ageing, urbanization and a sedentary lifestyle.

Prof. Bajaj said India has the dubious distinction of presently having the highest number of persons with diabetes (39.5 million). Other countries such as China (26.8 million), United States (16 million), Russia (9.7 million) and Japan (6.7 million) follow India in that order. He said presently, as well as in the future, the persons with diabetes in developing countries would outnumber those in the highly industrialized nations.
               
Laying stress on combination of diet therapy with restricted energy intake, and physical exercise, Prof. Bajaj said that Ciggarette smoking has been observed as a significant risk factor for death in subjects Type-2 DM. There is enough evidence of adverse effects of smoking on physical and mental health in general, and in its contribution to long-term complications of diabetes in particular.
     
Speaking on Diabetic Foot: Principles of Management, eminent orthopedics, Dr. Hardas Singh Sandhu highlighted that the patient may not be aware of his diabetes till the foot gets involved and the patient is investigated for an unhealing ulcer or gross infection of the foot. He said that swelling of foot, non healing ulcer, abscess, sloughing of the soft tissues, necrosis of the bones, gangrene of the part or whole of the foot are the main symptoms of diabetic foot.
     
Dr. Anil Bhansali, Professor and Head of the Department of Endocrinolgy, PGI, Chandigarh presenting his research paper on “Diabetes: Early Diagnosis” highlighted that India has a distinction of being DIABETES CAPITAL OF THE WORLD and houses around 31 million subjects with diabetes and this number is going to increase to 79 million by 2030.
     
Dr. Bhansali observed that Diabetes is a devastating disorder which is characterized by persistent high blood glucose levels and does have tardy but detrimental effects not only to nerves, eyes and kidneys but also increases the risk of coronary events and strike by two to four fold and lower limb amputation by 30-40 fold as compared to non-diabetics.
     
Professor Dr. Jai Rup Singh, Vice-Chancellor and Chairman of the Conference while welcoming the delegates said that Guru Nanak Dev University feels proud and honoured that 47th Annual Conference of National Academy of Medical Sciences is being held for the first time on the Guru Nanak Dev University Campus.
     
Dr. Daljit Singh, Dr. Anil Bhansali, Dr. Mulrlidharan, Dr. K.K. Talwar, Dr. Kiranjit Kaur, Dr. Amod Gupta, Dr. Pritam Singh, Prof. K.S.Chugh, Prof. M.V.Padma Srivastava, Prof. P.K.Dave, Prof. Sanjay Wadhwa also presented their papers on the various aspects of Enhancing Quality of Patient Care in Type 2 Diabetes.